Carnival in the Netherlands (; also called "vastenavond" – eve of the fasting or ) is a festival held mainly in the Southern and Eastern regions of the Netherlands with an emphasis on role-reversal and the suspension of social norms, as part of celebrations of Carnival. The feast was assimilated by the Catholic Church, taking elements from ancient pagan spring festivals and is celebrated in the three days preceding the Christian holidays of Ash Wednesday and Lent.
From an anthropological point of view, Carnival is a reversal ritual, in which social roles are reversed and norms about desired behavior are suspended. Winter was thought of as the reign of the winter spirits that were to be driven out for summer to return. Carnival can thus be regarded as a rite of passage from darkness to light, from winter to summer: a fertility celebration, the first spring festival of the new year.Vitaberna. Jansimons.nl. Retrieved on 13 May 2015.
It precedes the Christian penitential season of Lent. The first day of Carnaval is six weeks before Easter Sunday. Carnival officially begins on Sunday and lasts three days until the start of Lent's first day, Ash Wednesday, at midnight. Nowadays the celebrations often start on Thursday evening though, which makes it in practice a six-day celebration. Many people in modern times do not relate the holiday at all with religion, but its date is still set before the start of the Christian season of Lent.
In the southern part of the Netherlands (Limburg and North Brabant) during Carnival, normal daily life comes to a near stop. Roads are temporarily blocked and many local businesses close for the week because many employees take days off during and after Carnival. According to post-Napoleon tradition, the feast lasts from Sunday until Tuesday. In recent years the feast usually starts on Saturday. Also Friday evening (or at schools at Friday afternoon) and in some places Thursday (Ouwe Wijven) are considered the start of Carnival, which makes it a six days' celebration. The festivities last the entire day and well into the nights. Some parades and many balls and bonte avonden or other meetings are held in the weeks before the official Carnival, but never before the first official court meeting on 11 November. 11 is considered the fools' number, so 11-11 (De elfde van de elfde) at 11:11(:11) is a prominent moment. Historically the 40 days of Lent would start on Wednesday at midnight and continue until Easter. Nowadays it is still the official ending of Carnival, though some Carnival activities such as herring eating are traditionally held on Wednesday after Carnival. 20 days into Lent there might be another parade or festivities, called "Half-Vasten" (Half-Lent). Lent itself is generally not practiced anymore by the Southern Dutch population as a result of irreligion dominating the area nowadays.
Name origin The oldest word which points in the direction of the word "Carnival" is listed on a certificate from the Italian Subiaco from 965 CE as a timestamp Carnelevare. Also known from the 13th century are the words Carnisprivialis, Carnis Privium and in an old Liège text the term Quarnivalle.
The origin can be traced to the Latin expression Carne Levare, or Italian Carne lavare or Carnem levare which with reasonable certainty can be translated into "farewell to the flesh" or "taking away the flesh",etymologiebank.nl. etymologiebank.nl. Retrieved on 13 May 2015.Geschiedenis van carnaval | Omroep Brabant. Omroepbrabant.nl (4 November 2008). Retrieved on 2015-05-13. which was a ritual to prelude lent. Two other, less likely, explanations that the term would be a contraction of the Latin Carne (meat) and Paler (rule), literally "the time that meat reigns" and the Italian Carnueale or the French Carne Avalis (both mean so much as "devour flesh") are given as well.Carnaval. Meertens.knaw.nl. Retrieved on 13 May 2015.
Dates Easter can fall on 22 March at the earliest and on 25 April at the latest. As a result, the earliest possible Carnival is on 1 February, the latest possible date is 9 March.
The official Carnival dates for the coming years are: 2026: 15 to 17 February 2027: 7 to 9 February 2028: 27 to 29 February 2029: 11 to 13 February 2030: 3 to 5 March 2031: 23 to 25 February 2032: 8 to 10 February 2033: 27 February to 1 March 2034: 19 to 21 February 2035: 4 to 6 February
Origin Pre-Christian celebrations Traditionally a Carnival feast was the last opportunity to eat well before the time of food shortage at the end of the winter during which one was limited to the minimum necessary. On what nowadays is called vastenavond (the days before fasting) all the remaining winter stores of lard, butter and meat which were left would be eaten, for it would soon start to rot and decay. The selected livestock had in fact already been slaughtered in November and the meat would be no longer preservable. All the food that had survived the winter had to be eaten to assure that everyone was fed enough to survive until the coming spring would provide new food sources.Wat is carnaval? | Fen Vlaanderen. Fenvlaanderen.be. Retrieved on 13 May 2015. Traditionally the feast also applied to sexual desires, which were supposed to be suppressed during the following fasting.
Several Germanic tribes celebrated the returning of the daylight. A predominant deity was during this jubilee driven around in a noisy procession on a ship on wheels.Germanic Paganism among the Early Salian Franks – Eduardo Fabbro, M.A., University of Brasilia, The Journal of Germanic Mythology and Folklore, Volume 1, Issue 4, August 2006 During this feast the Germanic people celebrated as the days grew longer again the (re-)birth of the sun.Oorsprong Carnaval | Boemelburcht. Boemelburcht.info (20 June 2014). Retrieved on 2015-05-13. The winter would be driven out, to make sure that fertility could return in spring. A central figure was possibly the fertility goddess Nerthus. Also there are some indications that the effigy of NerthusTacitus, Germania 9.6: Ceterum nec cohibere parietibus deos neque in ullam humani oris speciem adsimulare ex magnitudine caelestium arbitrantur – "The Germans, however, do not consider it consistent with the grandeur of celestial beings to confine the gods within walls, or to liken them to the form of any human countenance." Germania 40: mox vehiculum et vestis et, si credere velis, numen ipsum secreto lacu abluitur – "Afterwards the car, the vestments, and, if you like to believe it, the divinity herself, are purified in a secret lake." Trans. Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb, The Agricola and Germany of Tacitus, London: Macmillan, 1868, OCLC 776555615 or Freyr was placed on a ship with wheels and accompanied by a procession of people in animal disguise and men in women's clothes.Davidson, Hilda Ellis (1990). Gods and Myths of Northern Europe. Penguin Books. . Aboard the ship would the marriage of a man and woman be consummated as a fertility ritual.Federatie Europese Narren Nederland – Federatie Europese Narren Nederland . Fen-nederland.nl. Retrieved on 13 May 2015.
Tacitus wrote in his Germania:
Germania 9.6: Ceterum nec cohibere parietibus deos neque in ullam humani oris speciem adsimulare ex magnitudine caelestium arbitrator – "The Germans, however, do not consider it consistent with the grandeur of celestial beings to confine the gods within walls, or to liken them to the form of any human countenance."
Germania 40: mox vehiculum et vestis et, si credere velis, numen ipsum secreto lacu abluitur – "Afterwards the car, the vestments, and, if you like to believe it, the divinity herself, are purified in a secret lake."Trans. Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb, The Agricola and Germany of Tacitus, London: Macmillan, 1868, OCLC 776555615
The elaborate rites involving masked figures in the Swabian-Alemannic carnaval might have had an influence on the different aspects of the feast. The Swabian-Alemannic carnaval, known as Fastnacht, takes place in Baden and Swabia (Southwestern Germany), Switzerland, Alsace and Vorarlberg (Western Austria). It traditionally represents the time of year when the reign of the cold, grim winter spirits is over and these spirits are being driven out and expelled by the Carnaval rituals.Kirchliches Festjahr – Kirchenkalender / Festtage / Fastenzeit. Festjahr.de. Retrieved on 13 May 2015.
Also the ritual re-enactment of the Wild Hunt was a cultural phenomenon among many Gallic and Germanic peoples.Katharine M.Briggs, An Encyclopedia of Fairies, Hobgoblins, Brownies, Boogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures, s.v. "Wild Hunt", p 437.
There is evidence that the ancient Roman festivals of Saturnalia and Bacchanalia may have been absorbed into the Italian carnival. The Saturnalia, in turn, may be based on the Greek Dionysia and Oriental festivals like the Babylonical Sacaea (Marduk). The pagan carnaval was celebrated throughout Europe. In Russia, for example, this festival is known as Maslenitsa (roughly translated: butter feast).
Christian Carnaval Western Roman Empire and Early Middle Ages While Christian festivals such as corpus christi were church-sanctioned celebrations, Carnaval was also a manifestation of European folk culture.
In the Christian tradition the fasting is to commemorate the 40 days that Jesus fasted in the desert according to the New Testament and also to reflect on Christian values. As with many other Christian festivals such as Christmas which was originally a Pagan midwinter festival,einsland, Gro (2005): Norrøn religion. Myter, riter, samfunn. OsloSnorre: Heimskringla, i Snorres kongesagaer, bind I. Gyldendal 2003 Easter which was a Pagan spring festival,Oorsprong van Pasen | IsGeschiedenis. Isgeschiedenis.nl (8 April 2012). Retrieved on 2015-05-13.R.A. Koman, '100%Pasen: geloof, bijgeloof en volksgebruiken in Nederland'. Profiel: Bedum, 2012.E. Doelman, J. Helsloot (red.): De kleine Olympus: over enkele figuren uit de alledaagse mythologie. Amsterdam, 2008. and Sinterklaas,M. Otten, Edda, (Amsterdam: ANBO, 2004), Het lied van Regin (aantekeningen) en het lied van Fafnir (aantekeningen)Janssen, L.M. (1993). Nicolaas, de duivel en de doden: opstellen over volkscultuur. Baarn: AmboBooy, F. (2003). Op zoek naar Zwarte Piet: een speurtocht naar de herkomst, de ontwikkeling en de betekenis van de dienaar van Sinterklaas. Eindhoven: Stichting Nationaal Sint Nicolaas ComitéHassankhan. R. (1988). Al is hij zo zwart als roet .Den Haag: Warray.Heuvel, R. van den (1998). Het verhaal van Sint Nicolaas. Traditie: tijdschrift over tradities en trends, jaargang 4, nummer 4 (winter). P. 17-23. the Christian church has found it easier to turn the pagan Carnaval in a catholic tradition than to eliminate it. Unlike today, Carnaval in the Middle Ages took not just a few days, but it covered almost the entire period between Christmas and the beginning of Lent. In those two months, several Catholic holidays were seized by the Catholic population as an outlet for their daily frustrations.
In many Christian sermons and texts, the example of a vessel used to explain Christian doctrine: "the nave of the church of baptism", "the ship of Mary", etc. The writings show that processions with ship-like carts were held and lavish feasts were celebrated on the eve of lent or the greeting of spring in the early Middle Ages. The Catholic Church condemned this "devilish debauchery" and "Pagan rituals". As early as the year 325 the council of Nicaea attempted to end these Pagan festivals.